Gerhard Taschner

Gerhard Taschner (25 May 1922 – 21 July 1976) was a noted German violinist and teacher.

Biography Taschner was born in Krnov (in German, Jägerndorf), Czechoslovakia, of Moravian origins. he played Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 at his debut in Prague, when aged only 7. He studied with Jenő Hubay in Budapest 1930-32, and with Bronisław Huberman and Adolf Bak in Vienna. At age 10, he played three concertos with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Felix Weingartner.

In 1943, aged 21, he married the 37-year-old pianist Gerda Nette-Rothe. She then became known as Gerda Nette-Taschner.

In the dying days of the Second World War, the sacked German munitions minister Albert Speer devised a plan to protect the players of the Berlin Philharmonic from the invading Soviet forces. They would play a concert under Robert Heger and then be whisked away to a safe location out of Berlin. Gerhard Taschner played the Beethoven Violin Concerto. At the end of the concert, however, the players voted to remain in Berlin, in solidarity with their patrons, who were unable to escape. However, Taschner left in a car driven by Speer's chauffeur, taking with him his wife, two children, and the daughter of another musician. They took refuge in Thurnau. He was mainly responsible for making Khachaturian's Violin Concerto in D minor known in Germany, having had the score made available to him by the Soviets. In 1947 he made only the third recording of the work, after its dedicatee David Oistrakh in 1944 and Louis Kaufman in 1946. During a rehearsal in the late 1940s, he and the conductor Herbert von Karajan were unable to agree on some matters of artistic interpretation, which led to Taschner storming out of the rehearsal and refusing to play the concert; the two never played together again. In Europe, he was seen as the successor to Adolf Busch, Huberman and Fritz Kreisler.

Recordings Gerhard Taschner's recordings include:

J.S. Bach: Chaconne from Partita No. 2, BWV 1004 Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 (with the Berlin Philharmonic under Georg Solti) Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78 (with Martin Krause) Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hans Rosbaud Franck: Violin Sonata in A major (with Gieseking) Franck: Violin Sonata in A major (with Cor de Groot, 1942) Gershwin: Short Story Khachaturian: Violin Concerto in D minor Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Artur Rother North German Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro Paganini: Sonata No. 12 (with Gerda Nette-Taschner) Pfitzner: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 34 (Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Rudolf Kempe) Ravel: Violin Sonata Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen (with Michael Raucheisen) Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy (Bamberg Symphony under Fritz Lehmann) Sarasate: Romanza Andaluza, Op. 22/1 (with Gerda Nette-Taschner) Schoeck: Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 16 Sibelius: Violin Concerto (Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra) Tartini: Devil's Trill Sonata (with Hubert Giesen) On a recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Joseph Balzer, the soloist was identified as "Fritz Malachowsky", but this is believed to in fact be Gerhard Taschner.